Peralta is the multi-billionaire head of a Mexican telecommunications
company. Under Carlos Salinas's privatization of state-owned companies,
Peralta bought a cell phone franchise which turned out to be worth more than a
billion dollars.

He subsequently sold a minority interest in it to Bell Atlantic for $1.2
billion. According to a Bell Atlantic confidential document, Bell Atlantic
understood that the Peraltas were Mexican "robber baron[s]" who have always
"had top-level collaborators in the Mexican government."

And, according to documents, in the middle of his deal with Bell Atlantic,
Carlos Peralta wired $50 million to Raul Salinas which he and Raul insist was
for an investment fund they were setting up with other friends and which Raul
would manage. No records exist of a written agreement or of a receipt for this
$50 million payment to Raul Salinas.